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Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Wednesday Briefs - The Adored One 11

The voice was as dark and frightening as anything I’d ever heard. The black fog enclosed me and bound my arms to my sides. My blood chilled and I struggled to get away from the ghost.

“I’m no ghost.”

Apparently it could hear my thoughts. The amorphous mist formed into a half-man, half-animal and my heart stopped. His nose crinkled when he sniffed at me. Slimy lips split to show four fangs in an otherwise empty mouth. I gagged on the putrid smell of blood on his breath. He had bumpy, black and red skin like a hellish frog. Paper-thin wings fluttered with his panting breaths.

He raised a hand to my chin and gripped me with razor-sharp talons. His gaze traveled down to my feet and back to my face. He came to some decision.

“I want this one,” the voice scratched.

“Oh Jesus,” I whispered. I was very close to pissing myself.

“Release him!” Michael boomed. His feathery wings flapped violently and he rose into the air. With a howl of rage, he put up his hand and hurled a ball of light at the demon, who roared and let me go.

“I should destroy you where you stand, Pentus!” Michael bellowed. Another ball of silver-blue light began to grow in his hand. “Get what’s yours and go.”

The demon backed slowly away until he reached the two unconscious men. When he touched them, the humans woke and began shrieking in fear at the apparition before them. They both lunged for the exit to the street, but the demon blocked their path. His great claws tore into the men’s flesh and he laughed at their cries of pain. He growled in triumph. “Fine. You can keep your one, Michael. I’ll take two.”

Holding his quarry tight, Pentus swirled into a cloud of black dust and disappeared. When the air cleared, the only thing left was a pile of bloody clothes. I pushed Michael out of my way and emptied my stomach onto a pile of trash. After I stopped heaving, I wiped my mouth with a damp towel which Michael produced from thin air. He somehow procured mouthwash and handed it to me.

I swished and spat, but before I could ask, “What the fuck was that?” the black cloud swirled up from the ground and Pentus once again stood before us, with a small, furry bundle in his hands.

Michael sighed harshly. “What do you want, Pentus? You are testing my patience.”

I braced myself for the possibility that the thing was going to hurl whatever beastly object he held at me. But he didn’t move in my direction. In fact, he didn’t move at all. Instead, he bowed his head and asked quietly, “Is he well?”

Michael narrowed his eyes and said sharply, “What right have you to ask after him?”

“I have every right to—”

“No! Your greed and lust ate away your soul and you were cast down. You lost him, Pentus. Let him forget you.”

“I will. I will never ask of him again, if you give him this small gift.” Pentus set the ball of fur on the tar, and then slipped through the cracks in the pavement and vanished. The ball rolled over and a small, black kitten mewed up at us.

Michael glared at it. “Oh, He is not going to like this.”

“A kitten? Oh, it’s so cute.” The animal cried again, so I bent and scooped it off the cold ground. When I took a closer look, long, white fangs protruded from its tiny mouth.

“Demon cat!” I announced. I dropped it and it landed awkwardly at my feet. With an annoyed hiss, two small wings unfolded from its back and the animal of the underworld flew up and landed on my shoulder. While I stood stick-still, amazed by its very existence, the kitten proceeded to clean its whiskers.

The kitten’s wing tickled my ear. I swatted it away and the animal bit my finger. “Ouch!” I sucked at the bead of blood. “Michael, who was that? And what is this?”

He scratched the cat’s chin and answered me. “Pentus is a carnifex. He’s an executioner of souls—the opposite of an angel. Instead of accompanying men to the light of God, Pentus drags the wicked into Hell.”

“Oh, my God—I mean gosh. So those two men…?”

He nodded. “Those two men had been marked long ago. Pentus must have thought I was going to claim them, so he tried to prevent me. He’s very competitive. The two of us don’t get on well.”

I raised an eyebrow. “I’d hardly imagine angels would be BFFs with demons.”

“True, but we tolerate their existence as part of the Holy One’s plan. Angels of course are much stronger and if needed, we can and will defend God’s chosen by destroying a carnifex.”

“So why didn’t you rub Pentus out with one of your lightning balls? That was awesome, by the way.”

His mouth drew down. “Because of Philip.”

“Philip?”

“Yes,” the angel said sadly. “Before he was cast down, Pentus and Philip loved each other.”

“What? You mean loved, loved? Ouch! Stop biting me, fur ball.”

I detached the kitten's claws from my shirt and held it up so I could look it in the eye. It blinked its wide eyes at me and lay down on my hand, purring contentedly. I handed it to Michael.

“What do you want me to do with it?” he asked.

“Um, let’s see. How about something not involving me? I won’t exactly blend in with the human population with a demon cat flying around my head. Someone is bound to notice sooner or later.”

“You always wanted a kitten when you were little.”

“A kitten with wings and fangs? Are you out of your gourd?”

“I’m sorry. I’m just not looking forward to telling Philip about this.”